Academic institutions across the globe are facing budgetary restrictions, and students within the U.S. and UK are feeling the pinch by an increase in tuition fee levels. Yet, the increase in what students have to pay does not remove the need to tighten up many academic institutional budgets.

Sites such as 4chan, Reddit and Facebook are perfect platforms for posting single images, and are often populated with a number of Internet memes.

Internet memes are often used as a way to promote a humorous message, as they can be instantly accessible, demonstrate a familiar context and are easily shared -- stereotype mockery such as the student who tries to conform to a label when it doesn't apply often being a popular topic.

This lazy college senior meme, a stereotype of the soon-to-finish university student, is one that considers the option students have in continuing their education rather than trying to fight in an instable job market.. and actually pay back that loan.

The college freshman's stereotype is that of a nervous, eager to please student -- it's a known fact your first week at university results in a collection of phone numbers and Facebook friend requests, without you remembering who half of them are.

The more familiar an Internet meme, and the wider the audience who can relate to it increases its rate of shareability.

This lazy college senior meme is no exception. The majority of students know someone who constantly complains about a lack of funds, but parties hard -- or we do it ourselves. Just leave the credit card at home.

When it comes to a less-than-inspiring lecture, in the final few minutes, the moment one person takes the lead and packs their things away, sheep mentality takes over.

Suddenly, every bag is packed, and every student is looking impatiently at the lecturer.

Published: February 13, 2012 -- 01:07 GMT (17:07 PST)

Caption by: Charlie Osborne

As a freshman, there's always another reason why you didn't quite make the grade in one -- or more -- of your module choices. Naturally, it's the teacher's accent, or your notes were stolen, or you just 'didn't have the time' to study.

Students often look for ways to cut corners and lower the expenses required of studying at university. One of these methods, perhaps gaining popularity as torrent software is used by a wider audience, is to download copies of academic publications rather than rent or buy them.

Following from the previous Internet meme based on students downloading required textbooks online, another method is to make a few friends on campus that already have the book you need in .pdf format.

However, it is not only students that keep copies of publications in a digital format. On occasion, lecturers or seminar professors will email their students with the required readings -- especially if the campus library does not have enough copies of the book in stock.

Troll face is probably one of the most recognizable Internet memes. If you know you're not going to be hit with yet another tuition-fee increase, you can indulge in some trolling and make sure everyone knows it.

Top picks in College memes

University memes have risen in popularity recently. What memes describe the student experience?

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Academic institutions across the globe are facing budgetary restrictions, and students within the U.S. and UK are feeling the pinch by an increase in tuition fee levels. Yet, the increase in what students have to pay does not remove the need to tighten up many academic institutional budgets.